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30 Jul 2014

Ashley Brown

Photo by Jimmy Asnes

Queen Mother, a new musical chronicling the life of Hannah Hill, Charlie Chaplin's troubled mother, will have invite-only industry workshops at New York Live Arts July 31 and Aug. 1.

In recent weeks the cast and creative team of the new musical have been in residence on the Goodspeed Musicals campus in East Haddam, CT. Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast) and Katie Klaus (The Bridges of Madison County, Bonnie and Clyde) lead the cast.

Queen Mother, based on the original play by Roberto Gómez Bolaños, features book and music by Florinda Meza, lyrics by Jack Murphy and arrangements and orchestrations by Michael Moricz. Additional material is by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and additional compositions are by Moricz.

Queen Mother, according to Goodspeed, "explores the life of Hannah Hill, Charlie Chaplin's mother. Hannah was first and foremost a mother, but also a late 19th century London music hall star filled with talent, passion and emotion... the result of a personality disorder that oscillated between peaks of happiness to the edge of an abyss of sorrow and insanity. This new musical tells her controversial life story by creating an absurd world that goes back and forth from the sparkle, lights and tinsel of the 19th century London music hall to the cold, dark, and constantly melancholic depths of a 19th century London asylum."